Integrated alarm display in a process control network

Abstract

An alarm display and interface tool for use in a process control system receives and displays different categories of alarms, including for example, device alarms and hardware alarms as well as traditional process alarms, on a single display to enable an operator or other user to view and have access to these different categories of alarms. The display and interface tool may be used to filter the alarms that are displayed according to any number of categories, including the category of the alarm, the priority of the alarm, the status of the alarm, etc. so as to alternatively segregate or combine the tasks typically associated with operator, maintenance and engineer personnel. The tool may also be used to access each of the displayed alarms to obtain more information about any individual alarm.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 707,580 which was filed on Nov. 7, 2000 entitled “Integrated Alarm Display in a Process Control Network” and which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,774,786 on Aug. 10, 2004.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates generally to process control systems and, more particularly, to the display of alarm conditions within a process control system.DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART[0003]Process control systems, like those used in chemical, petroleum or other processes, typically include one or more centralized process controllers communicatively coupled to at least one host or operator workstation and to one or more field devices via analog, digital or combined analog / digital buses. The field devices, which may be, for example valves, valve positioners, switches and transmitters (e.g., temperature, pressure and flow rate sensors), perform functions within the process such as opening or ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

These applications are not configured to display other types of errors or alarms, such as alarms associated with malfunctioning field devices or other hardware like controllers or input / output (I / O) devices.

However, it requires an experienced or knowledgeable operator to detect device or hardware problems from process alarms.

However, these 4 to 20 ma signals are limited in nature in that they are indicative of process measurements made by the device or of process control signals generated by the controller required to control the operation of the device during runtime.

As a result, the conventional 4–20 ma devices are incapable of generating alarms pertaining to the operational capability of the device itself.

As a result, alarms associated with these devices have generally not been available within process control systems.

However, there have been few if any display applications for displaying non-process alarms, such as alarms generated by the field devices or controllers indicating some problem with the hardware associated with those devices has occurred.

It is believed that there are no known displays which enable maintenance or engineer personnel to detect and attend to faulty field devices, controllers, I / O devices, etc. in a coherent or consistent manner, as there are with operator displays that display process alarms.

This process is time consuming and difficult.

In some cases, the problem may be critical and may need immediate attention, such as with a stuck valve plug, whereas other conditions may call for scheduling maintenance at some time in the future.

In the past, there has been no easy way of enabling a single person to view all of the alarm data in an organized and integrated manner.

Currently, there is no system which enables a single person to perform these functions.

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